The First Designer You Seriously Lusted After in the '90s Is Back

Quick—what was the first designer item you lusted after and actually felt like you needed? There's a high probability you're saying Kate Spade because the brand got mass appeal right at the time when millennials were first starting to bug parents for rides to the mall (count 1996 as a high point, when the brand opened its first New York City store). The woman who was responsible for creating the bright and poppy universe left the brand in 2007 and has just gotten back into the fashion game, releasing a new line of shoes and bags called Frances Valentine.

"Everything came together serendipitously," she told us about deciding that now was the right time for her and husband Andy to launch a new label. "My daughter is older now and in school and at activities all day, and my former shoe designer was ready to leave Prada and work with us again." That shoe designer is Paola Venturi, the former Kate Spade design director who left the company in 2007 and then spent time at Prada. The fourth name behind the new label is Elyce Arons, one of the original founders of Kate Spade.

While it's a proven, established team, it's a new marketplace, with fresh challenges for nascent brands that couldn't have even been imagined 20 years ago (just think about trying to explain Snapchat to a '90s high schooler). The company knows what it's signing up for though, and, hey, they know how to build a brand.

Spade told us that compared to her K.S. days, Frances Valentine is a collaborative effort between herself and the aforementioned trio. "There are hundreds more designers making accessories who weren't in 1993," she mused. "There's so much product out there, so we have to make every shoe and bag special. People have to fall in love with our shoes, or why bother?"

Price-wise, shoes average around $400 (some flats are $275, while snakeskin heels go to $625); bags range from $225 to $725. You can find them at Shopbop, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's, plus boutiques around the country and on Frances Valentine's website.